High speed means for feeding a strip with constant speed input but with intermittent motion at the work location



Sept. 11, 1962 T. F. ARONSON ETAL HIGH SPEED MEANS FOR FEEDING A STRIPWITH CONSTANT SPEED Filed Oct. 15. 1958 INPUT BUT WITH INTERMITTENTMOTION AT THE WORK LOCATION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. THEODORE F.ARONSON BY FLOYD A. LYON gm Z 7% ATTORNEY.

Se t. 11, 1962 T. F. ARONSON ETAL 3, 3,

HIGH SPEED MEANS FOR FEEDING A STRIP WITH CONSTANT SPEED INPUT BUT WITHINTERMITTENT MOTION AT THE WORK LOCATION Filed Oct. 13. 1958 2Sheets-Sheet 2 WEB 2K VELOCITY K AT WORK LOCATION o TRAVEL -LWORKLTRAVEL-LWORK+| FIG. 2

INVENTOR. THEODORE F. ARONSON By FLOYD A. LYON ATTORNEY.

United States Patent F HIGH SPEED MEANS FOR FEEDHIG A STRIP WITHCONSTANT SPEED INPUT BUT WITH INTERMITTENT MOTION AT THE WORK LUCATiONTheodore F. Aronson, Glen Cove, and Floyd A. Lyon, Brookviile, N.Y.,assignors to Commercial Envelope Manufacturing Co., Inc., New York, N.Y.

Filed Get. 13, 1958, Ser. No. 766,889 3 Claims. (Cl. 83-236) Thisinvention relates to high speed means for feeding a strip of materialpast a Work place with constant speed input but with intermittent motionat the work location.

This application is a continuation in part of our prior application ofthe same title, Serial No. 740,669, filed June 9, 1958.

The invention is useful in connection with the cutting for instance ofenvelope blanks from a continuous strip or Web. In the manufacture ofenvelopes, the first step is to form individual blanks from a continuousstrip of paper. This is generally done by cutting a diamond shapedcenter aperture together with a pair of side notches for each blank.

There are several problems in getting high speed operation. If the paperstrip is punched with a reciprocating type punch, then the strip must bestopped each time the punch operates. This requires intermittent motionof the heavy punch machine and makes the operation essentially one oflow speed.

One of the solutions has been to mount the cutting dies on rollers.However, this has been found not practical since the positive andnegative portions of the cutting dies wear out rapidly during rotaryengagement.

The present invention provides a work station, for instance, areciprocating punch type die cutter, printer or gluer, and input drivemeans for the strip which has substantially constant speed. A certainamount of slack in the strip is provided before the cutter, and thisslack is manipulated by a roller mounted on a rocking arm in synchronismwith the cutter so that the paper atthe cutter position is momentarilystopped at the time of cutting or punching or other work. In otherwords, the input speed of the strip is substantially constant, but thespeed in the vicinity of the cutter is varied so that the web motionpast the cutter is intermittent while the average speed is constant andequal to the input speed. It is possible to achieve this result sincethe only thing being intermittently controlled is the paper which hasnegligible weight. All other parts of the machinery which haveappreciable weight run with constant or smoothly varying motion. Withthe arrangement of the present invention it has been found that veryhigh speed operation on the order of 1,000 cycles per minute can beobtained with up to twelve inches advance motion per cycle or 1,000 feetof Web per minute.

A modification is provided which oscillates the strip at the worklocation with a carriage so that the velocity of the strip at the worklocation is intermittent without affecting the constant input and outputspeeds.

Accordingly, a principal object of the invention is to provide new andimproved strip or web material feeding means.

Another object of the invention is to provide strip ma terial feedingmeans having constant input and output speeds but intermittent motion ata Work location.

Another object of the invention is to provide strip material feedingmeans having constant input speed but intermittent motion at a worklocation.

Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved highspeed cutting means for strip material.

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Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved handlingmeans for strip material.

Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved highspeed cutting means for making envelopes.

Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved striphandling and processing means.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from thefollowing specification and drawings, of which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective drawing of an embodiment of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a plot of Web velocity at the work location against time.

FIGURE 3 is a front view of another embodiment of the invention.

FIGURE 1 shows a perspective View of an embodiment of the invention. Allof the members are mounted in a pair of side frames F and F the frame Fbeing cut away to show the interior construction. The strip 1 is fedfrom a roll 2 by means of an input roller 3 which is mounted between andjournalled to the frame members and which is driven by the constantspeed motor 5, as will be discussed. Spring loaded pressure roller 6bears against the roller 3.

The strip then passes over an idler roller 7 which is adapted tooscillate up and down. The roller 7 is mounted on arms 8 and 9, theother ends of which are mounted on the shaft 10 which is journalledbetween and to the frame members F and F An arm 11 is fixedly connectedto the shaft 10 and has a cam follower 11 which rides in anapproximately eccentric groove 12' of the flywheel cam 12. The flywheelcam is mounted on a shaft 13 which is journalled to the frame and whichis driven at constant speed by the motor 5 by means of the chain 14 andsprockets 15 and 16. The input roller 3 is driven by the chain 4 bymeans of sprocket 17 connected thereto and sprocket 18 mounted on theshaft 13. The chain 4 also passes over a sprocket 20 mounted on a shaft'21 which is journalled between and to the frame members and which isconnected to drive the output roller 22 through a slip clutch '23. Aspring loaded pressure roller 24 is pivotally mounted on and between theframes and bears against the output roller 22.

The work station is illustrated as a punch and die set comprising alower die 25 and an upper die 26 which is connected to shaft 27connected to block 28 which slides in gibs (not shown) connected to theframe. The block 28 is pivotally connected to connecting rod 32 and isdriven by a pair of crank arms 30 and 31 mounted on the main drive shaft13 through connecting rod 32. The main drive shaft 13 continues over andis journalled to the frame F The apparatus thus far described operatesas follows: The roller 3 pulls the strip at constant speed. The roller 7oscillates up and down and manipulates the slack loop in the strip sothat the motion of the strip past the work station is intermittent buthas an average speed equal to the input speed as illustrated in the plotdiagram of FIGURE 2. This arrangement permits high speed operation sincethe only thing that is intermittently varied in speed is the strip whichhas negligible weight. All of the relatively heavy apparatus moves atconstant or smoothly varying speed.

The strip is taken away by the driven roller 22 bearing against thepressure roller 24. The strip movement by the roller 22 is intermittentsince it operates through the slip clutch 23. 1

Additional work stations may be added on to 'or substituted for the workapparatus thus far described. For instance, the strip may then beprinted, crimped, cut or glued as desired. FIGURE 1 illustrates acutting knife 35 which is adapted to slide up and down in the guides 36and 37 connected to the frames. The knife is mounted on a shaft 38 andis drivably connected by means of the connecting member 40 connected tothe shaft 41 which is journalled to the frame members at each end andwhich is rotated by means of the arm 42 and cam followers 42' whichrides on the cam 43 mounted on the main shaft 13. The knife, therefore,operates in synchronism to cut the strip into blanks or pieces. Themoving knife blade 35 shears off the strip against the stationary blade45 and the pieces may be stacked or fed onto a moving belt mounted at anangle to the previous strip motion axis. The speed of the belt 50 wouldpreferably be chosen to fan out the cut pieces so that they could beeasily fed to other work apparatus, for instance, an envelope foldingmachine, located at the end of belt 50.

FIGURE 3 shows a perspective view of another embodiment of the inventionwith one side of the frame cut away, wherein the strip is fed into andout of a work location at constant speeds but Where the strip velocityat the work location is made intermittent but having an average speedequal to the input and output speeds.

In this embodiment of the invention the strip 51 is fed between a drivenroller 52 and a spring loaded pressure roller 53 mounted between theside frames. The strip is then passed under input idler roller 54 whichis mounted on an oscillating carriage 55 which slides on stationary gibs59. The strip then passes through the work location and under idlerroller 56- mounted on the other end of the carriage 55 and is thenremoved by means of the driven roller 57, the strip passing between thedriven roller 57 and the pressure roller 53 mounted on the frames. Thework station may comprise a reciprocating punch 25 and die 26.

The carriage is oscillated by means of the driven cam 62 on shaft 70 asfollows: The arm 71 is pivotally mounted to the frame on shaft 72 andhas a cam follower 71 on one end riding in the groove 62 of cam 62. Theother end of arm 72 is connected to oscillate carriage 55 with a slotand pin connection 73.

The movement of the punch and die is therefore synchronized with themovement of the oscillating carriage. The punch 25 and die arrangementmay be the same as in FIGURE 1. The motor M on frame F drives shaft 70through belt 74. Roller 52 is driven from shaft 70 by gears 75 on shaft70' and gear 76 connected to roller 52. Roller 57 is driven by gear 77connected to gear 75 on shaft 70.

The motion of the strip at the work location is the same as shown inFIGURE 2, namely, it is intermittent but has an average speed equal tothe input and output speeds. The work apparatus is synchronized to Workduring the part of the cycle when the strip is stationary. A frictionclutch takeaway may be used in the embodiment of FIGURE 3 as well as inFIGURE 1.

Various modifications may be made without departing from the scope ofthe invention. Various different work apparatus may be used with thestrip moving means of the invention. For instance, a complete envelopemaking machine comprising punching, cutting, gluing or crimping may becombined in connected stages, each using the strip moving means of theinvention. Also, more than one operation may be done at one worklocation.

We claim:

1. Envelope blanking means comprising means for feeding strip materialpast a work location consisting of substantially constant speed driveninput pinching roller means, input idler roller means at said worklocation, a rotatable shaft, a pair of parallel arms fixedly mounted atone end to said rotatable shaft, a roller mounted on said arms betweensaid constant speed and input idler rollers and adjusted to oscillatesubstantially perpendicular to the center line of said constant speedand input idler rollers substantially equi-distant relative to saidconstant speed and input idler rollers to provide an input controlledloop having substantially parallel sides in said strip, a compensatingcam, continuously driven constant speed drive means connected to saidcam, a cam follower arm fixedly mounted on said rotatable shaft andextending to the other side of said rotatable shaft from said parallelarms, the pivot point of said parallel arms at said rotatable shaftbeing intermediate said cam and said oscillatab-le roller, said cambeing arranged to oscillate said oscillatable roller at half thevelocity of said strip material for an appreciable part of a cycle tostop said strip at said work location for an appreciable part of acycle, and driven output roller means slippable with respect to saidstrip material at the output side of said work location, said inputidler and output driven rollers being tangent to the plane of said stripat said work location, whereby said controlled loop is manipulated sothat the motion of said strip past said work location is stopped for anappreciable part of a cycle and said input speed is constant.

2. Envelope blanking means comprising means for feeding strip materialpast a work location consisting of substantially constant speed driveninput roller means, input idler roller means at said work location, arotatable shaft, a pair of parallel arms fixedly mounted at one end tosaid rotatable shaft, a roller mounted on said arms between saidconstant speed and input idler rollers and adjusted to oscillatesubstantially perpendicular to the center line of said constant speedand input idler rollers to provide an input controlled loop havingsubstantially parallel sides in said strip, a first compensating cam, acam follower arm fixedly mounted on said rotatable shaft and extendingto the other side of said rotatable shaft from said parallel arms, thepivot point of said parallel arms at said rotatable shaft beingintermediate said first cam and said oscillatable roller, said first cambeing arranged to oscillate said oscillatable roller at half thevelocity of said strip material for an appreciable part of a cycle tostop said strip at said work location for an appreciable part of acycle, driven output roller means at the output side of said worklocation, said input idler and output driven rollers being arranged tomaintain the plane of said strip at said work location, whereby saidcontrolled loop is manipulated so that the motion of said strip pastsaid work location is stopped for an appreciable part of a cycle andsaid input speed is constant, a reciprocatable knife mounted at apredetermined angle to the movement axis of said strip through said worklocation, a second cam mounted on the cam shaft of said first cam, a camfollower riding in said second cam, and a linkage connecting said camfollower to said knife to reciprocate said knife to out said strip at apredetermined angle when said strip is stationary.

3. Envelope blanking means comprising means for feeding strip materialpast a work location consisting of substantially constant speed driveninput pinching roller means, input idler roller means at said Worklocation, a rotatable shaft, a pair of parallel arms fixedly mounted atone end to said rotatable shaft, a roller mounted on said arms betweensaid constant speed and input idler rollers and adjusted to oscillatesubstantially perpendicular to the center line of said constant speedand input idler rollers substantially equi-distant relative to saidconstant speed and input idler rollers to provide an input controlledloop having substantially parallel sides in said strip, motion controlmeans connected to said arms, continuously driven constant speed drivemeans connected to said control means, said control means being arrangedto oscillate said oscillatable roller at half the velocity of said stripmaterial for an appreciable part of a cycle to stop said strip at saidwork location for an appreciable part of a cycle, and driven outputroller means slippable with respect to said strip material at the outputside of said work location, said input idler and output driven rollersbeing tangent to the plane of said strip at said work location, wherebysaid controlled loop is manipulated so that the motion of said strippast said work location is stopped for an appreciable part of a cycleand said input speed is constant.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 6Powell Aug. 25, 1953 Chambron Sept. 1, 1953 Dutro Oct. 13, 1953 StcwertOct. 13, 1953 Dutro Feb. 2, 1954 Fischer et a1. Jan. 8, 1957 FOREIGNPATENTS Great Britain Sept. 7, 1936

